Objective: Dispensing of antibiotics without a prescription (DAwP) has been widely practised among community pharmacies in Saudi Arabia despite being illegal. However, in May 2018, the law and regulations were enforced alongside fines. Consequently, we wanted to evaluate the impact of these changes. Methods: A study was conducted among 116 community pharmacies in two phases. Pre-law enforcement phase between December 2017 and March 2018 and a post-law enforcement phase a year later. Each phase consisted of a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey and a simulated client method (SCM). In the SCM, clients presented with either pharyngitis or urinary tract infections (UTI). In SCM, for each phase, all 116 pharmacies were visited with one of the scenarios. Results: Before the law enforcement, 70.7 % reported that DAwP was common with 96.6% and 87.7% of participating pharmacies dispensed antibiotics without a prescription for pharyngitis and UTI respectively. After the law enforcement, only 12.9% reported that DAwP is still a common practice, with only 12.1% and 5.2% dispensing antibiotics without prescriptions for pharyngitis and UTI respectively. Conclusion: law enforcement was effective. However, there is still further scope for improvement. This could include further educational activities with pharmacists, physicians and the public.

Days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 was a pandemic, Saudi Arabia took preventative and precautionary measures to avoid its spread and to safeguard its citizens. In this study, we investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of both men and women toward COVID-19 as well as associated factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online, self-report questionnaire distributed via Google Forms. The overall percentage of correct answers for the knowledge statements was 80.2%, with a higher rate among the female respondents (82.4% vs. 78.5%, p = 0.005). Slightly more than half (i.e., 165: 51.6%) of the participants showed that they did not go to crowded places during the pandemic; however, more female respondents recorded that they avoided crowded places than male respondents (57.7% vs. 46.2%, p = 0.04). Most participants (i.e., 272: 85.0%) reported that they had worn a mask in recent days, and more than two-thirds (84.4%) said that they still follow the strategies recommended by government authorities to prevent the spread of the virus. Again, more female respondents reported this than males (89.9% vs. 79.5%; p = 0.01). Significant correlations (p < 001) were noted between knowledge and practices (r = 0.31), knowledge and attitudes (r = 0.37), and attitudes and practices (r = 0.29). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, occupation and education were independently associated with knowledge among both the male and female respondents (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.9; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2–7.2; aOR: 5.9; 95% CI: 2.2–15.9). Residence was independently associated with attitudes, but only among the male respondents (aOR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1–4.9), and COVID-19 was independently associated with practices among both the male and female respondents (aOR: 4.5; 95% CI: 1.4–14.2; aOR: 9.8; 95% CI: 1.2–81.2). There were significant gender differences in both knowledge and practices toward COVID-19, with the female respondents achieving better scores than the male respondents. Thus, we recommend that health education campaigns are tailored to specifically target males.

Background: Tuberculosis is a major public health concern in Yemen. Recurrence of tuberculosis complicates the situation further, and has severe negative economic and health consequences. This study estimated the tuberculosis recurrence rate during a 5-year follow-up period, and identified risk factors associated with recurrence. Methods: This was a prospective study with a 5-year follow-up period conducted at health centres with tuberculosis units in ten governorates. Participants were prospectively enrolled in the study from July 2007 to June 2008, with the last patient completing treatment on March 15, 2009. Results: A cohort of 814 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis completed treatment and was followed-up for five years. During the follow-up, 3.4% (n = 28) died and 4.3% (n = 35) were lost to the study, giving a final cohort of 751 patients. The mean age ± standard deviation was 32 ± 13 years. Males represented 57.6% of the subjects. The overall recurrence rate of tuberculosis was 9.5% (71/751), with significant variation between subgroups of patients (range = 7–25.8%). The highest recurrence rates were found in patients with diabetes (25.8%, p < .001), non-adherent patients (22%, p < .001), smokers (16.1%, p = .010), patients with cavitary lung disease (14.4%, p = .004), patients with weight gain ≤5% during the intensive phase (13.3%, p < .001) and unemployed patients (11.9%, p = .017). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, these risk factors were independently associated with recurrent tuberculosis: diabetes (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 3.78, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.84–7.80), non-adherence (aOR 3.22, 95% CI 1.76–5.87), weight gain ≤5% (aOR 2.51, 95% CI 1.39–4.55), smoking (aOR 2.18, 95% CI 1.07–4.47), presence of lung cavitation (aOR 2.01, 95% CI 1.16–3.46), and unemployment (aOR 2.15, 95% CI 1.16–4.01). Conclusion: The recurrence rate of tuberculosis in Yemen was high. The presence of risk factors in newly diagnosed patients should alert healthcare professionals. As most of risk factors were modifiable, the World Health Organisation model of patient-centered care in tuberculosis treatment should be promoted in all tuberculosis centres in the country.

Background: Electronic prescribing systems (e-prescription) for medications have many benefits, including patient safety, increase in patient satisfaction, efficiency of pharmacy work, and quality of patient care. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the national e-prescription system “Wasfaty” service in Saudi Arabia, which was recently adopted. Objective: The aims of this study were to explore the benefits observed through the use of the system and most frequent challenges experienced by community pharmacists in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This study was conducted using a descriptive survey on a web-based platform. The target population of the study included community pharmacists in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia who worked in pharmacy chains utilizing the e-prescription service between September 2022 and November 2022. Descriptive statistics along with multiple ordinal regression were used for data analysis. Results: The study population consisted of 124 pharmacists, of which 62.9% (78/124) were males and 37.1% (46/124) were females. Most of the participants had a positive perception of the e-prescription system with regard to medication safety, with 68.6% (85/124) indicating that e-prescriptions reduce the risk of dispensing errors. However, 81.5% (101/124) did not agree that the e-prescription system resulted in a reduction in workload, and 70.2% (87/124) disagreed that the service increased patient satisfaction. Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that the national e-prescription system has many benefits to healthcare employees and improves their work, particularly for patient safety, reducing medication errors, and improving the management of patient medications. The participants believe that there is a need to improve communication with prescribers, showing concern about the unavailability of some medications; thus, it is important for policymakers to encourage other pharmacy chains and suppliers to join the service to increase patient access to medications.

Background: Social media (SM) use has become an integral aspect of daily life. Overutilization of SM can adversely impact an individual’s physical and emotional well-being, especially that of students. This study evaluated the potential impact of SM addiction on anxiety and academic performance among university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical ad non-medical students at Qassim University during September 2022–April 2023 after obtaining the Ethics Committee’s permission. Raosoft was used for calculating the sample size, and participants were selected through convenience sampling. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze and interpret the results, using SPSS version 25. Results: A total of 269 students participated in the study. The majority of them were male (52%), with a mean age of 22.28. The main purpose of SM usage was entertainment, followed by communication. More than 30% of them were using SM for 4–6 h per day, accessing SM 1–10 times in a day, with more than half of them feeling that they had SM addiction and that it was affecting their daily activities and sleep. The majority of them agreed that SM can be used for group discussion (78.1% vs. 71.6%) and knowledge sharing (93.7% vs. 90%). However, a statistically significant difference was observed about anxiety level between the two groups. A negative correlation was found between cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and anxiety level. Conclusion: The findings suggest that SM has both positive and negative effects on academic performance and social anxiety. Continuous education and motivation about wise use of SM is warranted among students by parents, university authorities, and policymakers.

Tuberculosis (TB) recurrence following successful treatment is a significant challenge in TB control programs. However, the rate of TB recurrence varies among studies. It depends on several factors, including the country/region where the investigation occurs, the study design, sample characteristics, and the anti-TB regimen used. In Yemen, a few previous studies examined the rate of TB recurrence and reported high recurrence rates, with a 5-year recurrence rate of approximately 9.5%. However, they were conducted before 2010 using the previous anti-TB regimen which was phased out and replaced with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard 6-month TB regimen. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the rate of TB recurrence after the implementation of the WHO standard 6-month regimen in Yemen. A prospective observational study was conducted with patients diagnosed with drug-susceptible pulmonary TB. The patients were recruited from five health centers with TB units in five governorates from January to December 2011. All the patients were followed up for five years after treatment completion. A total of 439 patients who completed the anti-TB regimen met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. During the 5-year follow-up period, 8 patients (1.8%) died, and 13 patients (2.96%) were lost to follow-up, resulting in a final cohort of 418 patients. Of the cohort, 50.5% (n = 211) were male, while 49.5% (n = 207) were female patients. Of the patients, 129 patients (30.9%) were illiterate, 56 (13.4%) had cavitary pulmonary disease, and 6.2% (n = 26) had diabetes. The overall 5-year rate of TB recurrence in this study for the patients receiving the standard 6-month regimen was 2.9% (12/418). Moreover, almost half of the recurrent cases (41.7%; n = 5) were seen during the first year of the follow-up period. Some patient groups with risk factors recorded a higher recurrence rate, including patients with diabetes (15.4%), non-compliant patients (14.3%), pre-treatment lung cavitation patients (8.9%), illiterate patients (7.8%), and underweight patients (5.1%). In conclusion, the overall TB recurrence rate with the standard 6-month regimen was lower than that with the previous TB regimens. However, more efforts are needed to decrease TB recurrence rates further and achieve a durable cure for TB. In addition, healthcare professionals and TB control programs should consider potential risk factors of recurrence and address them to provide optimal care.